GOP senators pummel Chuck Hagel

Chuck Hagel left the Senate four years ago, but it could have been a lifetime judging by the harsh reception from his Republican former colleagues on Thursday.

President Barack Obama’s defense secretary nominee was the target of blistering attacks by Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee during a marathon 7½-hour confirmation hearing. One by one, Republicans accused him of shifting his answers for political expediency, actually harboring radical views and even of helping fuel anti-American propaganda around the world. And Hagel had a tough time answering the endless barrage of hostile questioning.

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McCain to Hagel: Answer the question

Hagel: Not defined by single vote

The former Nebraska GOP senator meandered and offered halting responses as he tried to explain and parse his past comments over Israel, Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, Iraq and nuclear arms. He was repeatedly cut off by his Republican inquisitors as he struggled to allay their concerns. After it was all over, Hagel’s GOP critics were far from satisfied, with some vowing to derail the nomination as it heads to a committee vote as early as next Thursday and on to the Senate floor after that.

Hagel’s failure to quell GOP criticism probably isn’t enough to sink his chances to head the Defense Department, given that Democrats still are mostly united behind his nomination. Democrats appear to have enough support to push the Republican through committee and to defeat a prospective GOP filibuster on the floor.

But that didn’t mean that opposition among Republicans wasn’t growing after Hagel’s testimony.

“There’s the right lane, there’s the middle lane, there’s the left lane, and then there’s the Hagel lane,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said after Hagel explained his worldview to senators. “There aren’t many people in his lane.”

Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), who once served with Hagel on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, told POLITICO Thursday: “I still have concerns. … I don’t think he did a very good job of answering the questions.”

And freshman Sen. Ted Cruz, the tea party firebrand who engaged Hagel in tough questioning, later wouldn’t rule out trying to place a hold on his nomination, which would require 60 votes to overcome on the Senate floor.